In the Archbishop's case it was deemed necessary, in order to fulfil the
requirements of Canon Law, that he should be tried by the Pope himself.
He was accordingly informed that his sovereigns had "denounced" him to
the Pope, and that His Holiness had commissioned the Cardinal Du Puy,
Prefect of the Inquisition, to act on his behalf, and that Du Puy had
delegated the duty to James Brooks, who had succeeded Hooper as Bishop
of Gloucester, to the Dean of St. Paul's, and to the Archdeacon of
Canterbury. The trial took place in St. Mary's Church. The accusers,
Philip and Mary, were represented by Drs. Martyn and Story. They, in the
name of their sovereigns, presented a lengthy indictment, in which the
chief charges were adultery, perjury, and heresy. The first meant that
although a priest he had been married, and had even married a second
time after he had been made an Archbishop; the second, that he had sworn
obedience to the Pope and broken his oath; and the third, that he had
denied the doctrine of transubstantiation.[510]
Cranmer refused to acknowledge the jurisdiction of his judges, but
answered the charges brought against him to his accusers because they
represented his sovereigns. He denied that the Pope had any
ecclesiastical power within England; but submitted to the kingly
supremacy. As Brooks had no authority from the Pope to do more than hear
the case, no judgment was pronounced; it was only intimated that the
proceedings would be reported to Rome. Cranmer was conducted back to his
prison. There he addressed first one, then a second letter to the
Queen.[511] In dignified and perfectly respectful language he expressed
the degradation of the kingdom exhibited in the act of the sovereigns
appealing to an "outward judge, or to an authority coming from any
person out of this realm" to judge between them and one of their own
subjects. Cranmer early in his career had come to the unalterable
opinion that the papal supremacy was responsible for the abuses and
disorders in the mediæval Church, and that reformation was impossible so
long as it was maintained. In common with every thoughtful man of his
generation, he repudiated the whole structure of papal claims built up
by the Roman Curia during the fifteenth century, and held that it was in
every way incompatible with the loyalty which every subject owed to his
sovereign and to the laws of his country. He took his stand on this
conviction.
"Ignorance, I know," he said, "may excuse other men; but he that
knoweth how prejudicial and injurious the power and authority which
the Pope challengeth everywhere is to the Crown, laws, and customs
of this realm, and yet will allow the same, I cannot see in anywise
how he can keep his due allegiance, fidelity, and truth to the
Crown and slate of this realm."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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